As you guys know, I love doing series. The last one I did I had a blast doing, the countdown to college football season. Now for the month of October, I’ll be doing a thirty one day series about Alt Rock Autumn.
Before I really get into it, I do want to describe Alt Rock Autumn. To me, Alt Rock Autumn is when the leaves start to change, the weather turns a little colder, and you want to throw on your jeans with a flannel or hoodie and just chill.
Now, the way that Alt Rock comes into play is that this is the perfect time of the year to listen to that style of music. When I’m driving with the windows cracked or walking around campus in this awesome weather, I want to have Counting Crows or Nirvana playing. The way these bands play guitar just gets me in an unreal mood. Now add in amazing weather, it doesn’t get better than that.
The way that country music fits the summer time, Alt Rock fits autumn perfectly.
With all of that being said, for this thirty one day series, I’ll be writing a short article each day about a different Alt Rock song that fits the season.
To kick things off, I’ll rock with a hit by the Smashing Pumpkins that reached number four on the U.S. Alternative Airplay chart between 1993 and 1994.
Today, is one of Billy Corgans and the Smashing Pumpkins biggest hits of all time. The song is the third track off the Siamese Dream album that came out in 1993 and was a pretty stacked album with additional songs like Mayonaise, Cherub Rock, and Geek U.S.A.
While Today has a very lighthearted sound with a soft guitar, the song is very grim.
Corgan wrote this song about a time when he was having suicidal thoughts. I for one didn’t even know this. If you’re singing along, you mainly will hear “Today is the greatest, Day I’ve ever known”. The thought of Corgan wanting to take his life doesn’t even cross my mind when listening to Today.
The way that the song has a soft instrumental with lyrics regarding depression confused many fans when the song released in 1993. Many listeners were in the same boat as myself and didn’t even realize that this song was essentially a cry for help.
Looking back on the lyrics, it doesn’t seem to get more obvious.
“Can't live for tomorrow, Tomorrow's much too long” and “Pink ribbon scars, That never forget, I tried so hard, To cleanse these regrets”.
While this song does have a sad meaning, it’s a great tune to listen to in autumn because of its light and smooth guitar throughout that is coupled with distorted guitar playing sprinkled throughout.
Tomorrow for October 2nd, we’ll be looking at a song by the Counting Crows about wanting to be a rock star.